ppl who are automatically assuming that he'll be gone after this season may be in for a surprise. i know that thibs and his mates value his game tremendously and it wouldn't shock me at all to see him back at a modest price.

...

"Sadly, Father Time has robbed Hinrich of his athleticism. He can't jump like he used to for sure and the nicks take longer to repair themselves. However. He's as smooth as butter. He keeps his balance so well whether in backpedal, slide step, or sprint. He cheats the screen by bodying his guy through it. Bulls switch but he gives the big a little edge by holding on to the handoff for that extra moment that lets the big cleanly engage. It's a dumb subtle thing that his teammates I bet appreciate. Folks watching on TV can't hear, but I suspect that Hinrich is also really good at calling for rotation when he's beat and he's smart enough at this point to know what's his plan B. Bulls bigs get a lot of credit that they deserve. Noah in particular is freakishly mobile for a guy that size. Hinrich sets a lot of that up, though by breaking the rhythm of the guard which lets the big lock up cleanly. Another thing Hinrich does: consistently skew the passing lane just by not taking possessions off. He also has really good hands in traffic for the rake. Hinrich is not going to swat you from behind a la LBJ. He's too smart to get into the habit of jumping the route because he knows that ends up breaking the defensive concept. Let's check some tape and see how often Hinrich gets beat at the back door. Answer: just about never, and across his career he's played the likes of Wade. If Thabo had stuck around, that pair would have rivalled Sloan & Van Lier on the defensive end though for entirely different reasons. Problem with the pairing: you needed a front court of Kareem, 'Nique, and Bird. Yeah, he screws up Curry and John Wall pretty regularly, and actually he does a pretty good job on Jeff Teague (though not so much the other night), but he's been doing that stuff his entire career that I've seen. Hinrich is a lovely piece of work. I've always liked his game, just not as anyone's centerpiece. To me, the bonus is the distributor part. He knows his group and gets them into the right spots. Augustin is obviously a different player entirely, but when Hinrich is out for a couple of games you see spacing get all hosed up. When his shot is clicking and he's healthy, he's really valuable."